Marbling Diaries: Markets, Process & Coming Soon
A sunny day at Gordonston Art Fair in February, marbled fans are looking dreamy.
Spring Equinox: Renewal and Balance in the Studio
With spring on the way, my studio feels like it’s coming alive—fresh patterns forming in the marbling tank and renewed connections following my first market of the year. The Gordonston Art Fair last month was exactly the return to public spaces I needed, offering the chance to see how people interact with my newest work while catching up with familiar faces. There's a natural flow happening now between these public experiences and my studio practice, each one fueling the other as I prepare for my busiest season. Taking advantage of Savannah's brief window of perfect weather—before the humidity and gnats make their seasonal appearance—I'm setting up my table of hand-marbled fans at Forsyth Park on warm Saturdays. These comfy, sunny days are the ideal backdrop for sharing my fans and spending some time in community before we all get grumpy and melt away in the steamy summer humidity.
Marbling has taken over the studio lately, I’m printing shipping boxes and shopping bags for the season ahead.
The Perfect Season for Marbling
This is the best time of year for marbling production in my Savannah studio. The process is surprisingly temperamental - it doesn't play well with extreme temperatures or humidity, and our mild spring provides that sweet spot I need. When it's too hot or dry, my pigments can dry out while still floating on the surface before I can even make a print. Too humid, and my paints might sink to the bottom of the tank or even cause the bath to turn rancid (which is, trust me, wildly disgusting). Before I get to the fun part that most people are curious about, there's quite a bit of preparation involved. I work in batches of about 100 fans at a time, checking each one for tiny factory flaws and treating them so the paint will actually stick to the fabric. The marbling tank itself contains what we call "size" in marbling terms - water thickened with seaweed powder until it feels a bit like maple syrup. This thickened water serves as the canvas for all the patterning and can be fussy to get to just the right consistency and temperature. It's kind of funny how particular this whole process can be- if I accidentally touch even the tiniest spot of treated fabric with a slightly damp finger, the pattern won't stick there, leaving a frustrating blank spot. And when you're constantly dipping your hands in and out of wet paints and seaweed water, keeping those fingers perfectly dry becomes an unexpected challenge!
Slowly creating my pattern, this is a variation on a traditional nonpareil marbling pattern being printed onto a hand fan.
But once everything's set up and I'm actually at the tank, that's when time seems to slow down in the best way. I don't plan my colors ahead – I just mix them as I go, adding thinners to help them float on the surface. This is the part that pulls me completely out of my head. All the everyday stresses just fade away when I'm focused on watching colors spread and shapes form on the water. While I have specific patterns that I rely on time after time, there are also plenty of on-the-fly experiments that happen in the marbling tank. It's fascinating how the mood of the tank shifts over the course of a few marbling days – the changing temperature, the decreasing depth of the tank, the "size" getting older – all of these factors affect the final patterns. So while I begin with a gentle plan, I've learned to shift gears as conditions change. After each fan takes its unique pattern, they need to air dry before being folded and stored for a few weeks while they settle back into their crisp accordion folds. Even after doing this for years, there's always something new to figure out, and that's what keeps it interesting. At its heart, marbling is beautiful because it's challenging – it continually teaches me to let go of expectations and simply go with the flow.
I’m currently working on fan inventory, marbling a few hundred of these beauties to sell at Forsyth Park on Saturdays.
Coming Soon: Silk Scarf Updates
I'm playing with a new smaller silk scarf design that I'll be launching soon! Keep an eye on my newsletter at the end of this month for more details about this new addition to my spring lineup. I'll also be sharing more about how the upcoming spring equinox's vibes are influencing my color choices and patterns. And, if you’d like to shop my current marbled silk scarves you can find them here. Until then, you'll find me at Forsyth Park near the fountain on most Saturdays with my freshly marbled fans, soaking up these perfect Savannah spring days while they last!
Embracing the process,
Mia
A few marbled fans available in the shop right now —>
